7 Big SMS Broadcast Mistakes

Sending an SMS broadcast is one of the most effective ways to increase engagement today and is used in virtually any indsutry including customer service teams, health clubs, retail, clubs and associations, schools, restaurants you name it and with consumers spending upward of 5 hours per day on their mobile devices there’s never been a better opportunity to grab their attention.

But there are some mistakes that can crush your SMS campaigns effectiveness that you would want to take steps to avoid.

In this article, I’ll share the 7 common mistakes and blunders that businesses and organisations make when using bulk SMS.

Mistake #1: Not Being Clear About The Offer

Often times you see an offer like “Text ‘FUN’ to 8887 and get 50% off all shoes!” which is fine if this is where the campaign begins and ends.

However, it’s not ok if your intention is to send ongoing promotions.

If the latter is your goal then it’s essential that you make it very clear on the promotion what your subscriber is signing up for so there are no unwanted surprises, for example:

Bad

“Text ‘FUN’ to 8887 and we’ll text you a coupon for 50% off all shoes!”

Then proceed to send them SMS promotions every other week.

Good

“Text ‘FUN’ to 8887 and we’ll text you a coupon for 50% off all shoes!”

Follow up text:

Thanks, for grabbing your coupon! By the way, would you like to get more special offers like this one? Text ‘YES’ to 8887.

Once they have replied and joined your group you have their explicit consent to send them ongoing promotional offers.

Best practice

In the first example, you don’t actually have permission to send ongoing promotions and consumers are becoming much more savvy to this method so best to play by the book.

In the second example, we’ve made an irresistible offer and then once they have accepted we’ve followed up with another offer that hints at them receiving more of the same, all they need to do is join your list.

This strategy will keep you clear of any legal headaches while helping you to acquire a highly engaged list of people to market to.

Mistake #2:Failing To Gain Explicit Permission To Send Offers

Right now you could find a list broker and they could give you hundreds or thousands of mobile numbers to send an SMS broadcast out to and you could make a lot of money if the offer is right.

BUT there is also a good chance that someone in that list who is sick and tired of receiving unsolicited offers who may decide to take legal steps against your company.

SMS penalties are severe and is best to avoid this strategy.

Best practice

The absolute most effective way to generate long-term revenue is to build your list organically by creating irresistible SMS promotions where people opt-in to your list.

Although it’s not as fast as buying mobile numbers you’ll find that the results of much higher.

Mistake #3: Texting Your Email Or CRM List

This is something I typically hear about from companies who already have an existing database of customers (either CRM or email) and decide to start sending them broadcast SMS messages out of the blue.

While it is rare to run up against any pushback from existing customers your list may even find it a value-add to now start receiving SMS messages from you it’s important to note that you don’t have permission to SMS these people even though they are your existing clients, patients or customers.

Best practice

Send them an email asking them if they would like to receive valuable information, offers, updates etc. via SMS alerts.

Mistake #4: Sending SMS Broadcasts Too Frequently

It’s often said that you need to get a person to see your marketing message at least 7 times before there is conscious recognition.

This means that marketers have been trained to aggressively push their message out there, and this method works…for marketing channels like email, social media, display ads etc.

Try using this approach with SMS and you’ll see your complaints and unsubscribes blow through the roof!

SMS doesn’t require repetition because out-of-the-box it gets incredibly high attention rates so using a high frequency strategy with the same marketing message is obviously overkill.

This also holds true for sending SMS messages in general too frequently.

The typical frequency we see to a specific customer segment is once per month, once every 12-14 days or even once per week which is pretty high but still doable depending on your product for example a restaurant will have no pushback from recipients by sending out a ‘weekly specials’ SMS.

Typically the more SMS campaigns you send the more revenue you will drive but you’ll need to find the right frequency balance for your subscribers.

If you’d like to send out more SMS promotions then it’s really a matter of positioning your offer so that it’s normal or highly beneficial to receive regular promotions on the SMS opt-in promotion for example:

Want To Receive Rare One-Time Offers?

We’ve opened the doors again for 300 people only!

Join our VIP list and get special offers 3 times per week which are not available to any of our other customers, we only accepting another 300 VIP members.

Mistake #5:Texting From A Business Name Instead Of Mobile Number

A lot of businesses prefer to use their brand name as an identifier but it comes with a major downside. Below is an example of using your brand name as the ‘FROM” address.

Bad

Good

Best Practice

Why is using your brand name not so good?

The reason why is because recipient can’t reply, includingpeople who want to opt-out.

SMS systems cannot reply to letters (i.e. your business name) it can only reply to phone numbers.

It’s a good idea to instead use your mobile number and identify yourself inside the text message so people know who your are, what you’re offering and allowing them to opt-out if required.

Mistake #6: Texting As If You’re Talking To A Group

Bad

Some of you asked for a feature that would allow you to make cheaper calls to anywhere in the world and we have delivered.

Good

Hi Jeff, you asked us for a feature that would allow you to make cheaper calls…and I wanted to let you know that it is now here!

Best Practice

In the first example my text reads as though I’m talking to a mass of people rather than a one person.

Wherever possible make the text message about the person, talk to them like it’s a real one-to-one conversation.

Text messaging is a very personal channel and so you want to make your keep your marketing as ‘native’ to that idea as possible by showing them that you’re a person texting another person with someone of value rather than a big faceless company announcing a feature to the masses.

Mistake #7: Making Irrelevant Offers

In the text message below I’m sending an SMS marketing promotion to a group of women who are interested in losing weight.

Bad

Hi Jan, ready to pack on some muscle this summer? We’ve got a special 50% our testosterone booster 5000 to get you started! Use this code at checkout: GETMASSIVE – OPT-OUT reply STOP45654

Good

Hi Jan, seen this and thought you might be keen. We’re offering 50% off our Women’s Metabolic Booster Tea. Use this code at checkout: SLIM50 – OPT-OUT reply STOP45654

Best Practice

The first text is obviously off-point and of little value to Jan and if she continues to receive these kinds of offers is likely to opt-out of the list.

Make sure that you segment your customers into the correct groups so that when you send a promotion it is laser targeted and speaks directly to their goals.

How To Boost Your Customer Service Using A Bulk Text Message Service

The cost to acquire a new customer is typically quite high and depending on what you’re selling can take weeks, months or years to actually bring them on as customers.

Because of this it’s essential that once you do bring them on as customers your new goal is the keep them as customers for as long as possible and this is where having a sound customer service strategy earns its keep.

A lot of businesses think customer service is purely reaction-based but it’s a really smart idea to find ways to engage with customers, ask them questions, find out what they want, what annoys them, what delight’s them and then bring that data back home to try and embed or remove those things.

Where are your customers?

The problem is, your customers are…everywhere.

These forces businesses to build Facebook fan pages and groups, get Instagram going, Tweet updates, write new content and produce professional looking videos on YouTube which spread your marketing team thin while not really producing any results.

The great thing about text messaging is that 82% of Aussies are connected to their mobile devices.

Wherever they are online you know for a fact that you can reach them anytime you want by sending them an SMS message.

Learn From Customers With Text Message Surveys And Polls

While 10-20% of your customer service improvement ideas may come from the team internally, most of the gold is found inside your existing database of customers.

Inside your customer-base, you will have different types of customers who have different needs and because of this, you can glean amazing new opportunities.

While email is a good channel to use you’ll only get 20% opening the email (at best) by using SMS almost everyone will open and read your request and so you will bet more feedback.

Use bulk text messaging to send out a link to surveys, polls and feedback forms.

Speed Is The New Norm

Customers expect to send in a request at 3 am and get a reply 2 minutes later, it’s crazy but that’s the world we now live in.

It’s not that being fast will win you extra brownie points because it’s expected, it’s being slow will do all of the damage.

The two places where you need to be fast in your response is:

Questions from potential customers

Complaints from existing customers

If your customer service team can respond quickly to questions from potential customers your conversion rate will go up because it shows them that your company will look after them when you become a customer.

When a mistake happens, faulty product late deliveries, over-charging etc. it is an opportunity to not only kill the monster while it’s little but endear your customers towards you.

Phone calls can lead to playing phone tag and emails can end up in SPAM but customer service text messages are instant plus will get seen, opened and read by the recipient.

Post Purchase SMS Follow-Up And Surveys

Once a person has bought a product from you one of the smartest things you can do is reach out to them via text message.

This reaffirms that they made a good decision and that you’re available if they need any help.

A “how did we do from a scale of 1-5?” text survey is a good and easy way of measuring and tracking performance.

Order Updates And Delivery Status Reports

When a person makes an order there is always a little bit of doubt that creeps in, usually, they want to know:

Was the order received?

How long will the order take to be delivered?

What happens next?

An automated text message with all of this information is a great customer service tactic because it closes off that mental loop and that customer can move on with other things.

The day before the order is to be delivered send out another text letting them know that their order will be delivered tomorrow at even better give a rough time estimate.

Text Message Appointment Reminders

Text appointment reminders are one of the most useful and profitable strategies and are used a lot by our customers.

For example, hair salons constantly grapple with no-shows, it’s a double-whammy, they lose out on the money they would’ve have gotten and they need to still pay staff who are now doing nothing for an hour or more.

Sending a quick text reminder a day or two before to confirm a chair booking gives them time to re-book another client if the scheduled one cannot make it.

Businesses will also use text reminders to remind their customers about direct-debits that are due to come out reducing default fees.

Property managers set up an automated text messages to remind tenants about inspections.

Why Bulk Texting is a Must Have for Schools and Universities

As mobile continues to weave itself into every part of our lives SMS has continued along with the ride making communication incredibly fast and effective.

Schools and universities are now able to add more value by reaching parents and students instantly with news, updates and important information with bulk SMS messaging.

What is Bulk Texting?

Bulk SMS also referred to as Mass Texting allows a person to send a text message to one, hundreds or thousands of people instantly and is used by anyone who wants to guarantee their message is delivered quickly but also read and acted upon.

Most people (97%) will read their text message 4 minutes after they’ve received it compared to email which is typically 90 minutes if seen at all.

SMS is a step down (and some would say a more polite) from receiving an actual phone call making it a very direct communication channel.

In this article, I’m going to share the top 6 reasons why schools and universities can gain maximum benefit from bulk text messaging.

Fast and Easy Setup

The thing our clients love about this system is that it is incredibly easy to set up.

All you do is take your contacts list and upload it to our system and you’re ready to start sending text messages.

Sign up for a Free Account where you can upload your contacts and we’ll load your account up with a few text messages so you can see how it all works.

Everyone Reads Their Text Messages

With so many things fighting for our attention we’ve managed to create filters (both software and psychological) to help us sort, sift and filter through what messages we allow in instantly, which we hold off until later and those which we throw into the SPAM pile.

SMS messaging is one of the VERY few which grabs a person’s attention instantly.

While emails, push notifications, Facebook messenger alerts and the like can be put off until later receiving an SMS is completely different, we want to know who texted us.

In short, if you absolutely need to get your information read, sending an SMS message should be your first option.

Keep Parents in the Loop

When I was young my school teacher would hand me a notice and I would drop it into my school bag where it would then stay for weeks.

My parents were never in the loop and the school missed out on fundraising and other activities.

Instead just text parents directly with:

A link to the latest newsletter

Cancellations

Transport updates

Class trips and permission slips

Fundraising events

School fees

A link to school reports

Keep Your Teaching Staff Updated

A lot of our clients use SMS just as much for internal communications as much as customer communications.

If there is a fire drill or an urgent assembly that has been scheduled then sending a reminder text is perfect for making sure that teachers are in the know and can prepare their students.

Emergency Situations Handled in a Timely Manner

At some point, there will be some form of emergency that will happen at school or on campus grounds and it is essential that you have the right communication channels ready to go.

For example, if a child is hurt then a quick text followed up by a phone call is an appropriate action.

On the other hand, if there is an emergency that poses a risk to everyone at school or on campus grounds then sending out a bulk SMS is the most efficient and reliable way to ensure everyone is updated with the best information.

4 Ways To Use A Bulk SMS Service To Build Your Retail Business

The greatest opportunity regarding bulk SMS is the fact that a lot of people own mobile phones which gives retailers an incredible amount of reach, in fact in Australia 82% of the population owns a mobile device.

Your customers are mobile.

Not only that but they’re using mobile while in your store while they’re thumbing through products and it’s only when they’ve done they’re mobile research will they then speak to a salesperson.

Since shoppers are already on their device you have the ability to reach them where they’re at BUT on a channel that they can’t ignore…SMS.

Is Bulk SMS Marketing Hard?

Bulk SMS may seem a little daunting for retailers who have not familiarised themselves with SMS platform but it’s incredibly simple to use.

In fact, if you’ve ever sent a group text message you’re 90% of the way there already the only other things you need to think about are:

In this article, you’ll learn 4 powerful ways you can use bulk SMS to drive more customers and grow your brand.

1. Generate A High ROI

One of the most powerful assets a retailer can own is a list of hungry customers.

If you are currently using email marketing then you already know how easy it is to send out an email and then have sales rolling in but imagine if you could double or triple those results?

A friend of mine who works for an online wine retailer is able to generate up to 300% more sales using SMS than their current email marketing campaigns!

This is an incredibly meaningful sales bump for them and is one of their secret weapons.

2. Send Irresistible Offers

Customers will always love a good sale and retailers can easily deliver on this while knowing that an incredibly high percentage of their customer list will open, read and then act on that offer in a way that most other marketing channels cannot achieve.

This customer responsiveness is exactly why retailers love SMS in fact, according to Smart Insights:

Over 97% of text messages are read within the first four minutes and of those people, 19% will click a link in an SMS campaign.

3. Send Stock Updates And Notifications

SMS Subscribers will definitely want to about new stock arriving or even when stocks are low.

This insider-information is another great way to set up pre-orders and move old stock from the shelves and if you want to drive even more traffic then attach a limited time offer to your SMS.

4. Mobile Loyalty Program

MLP’s (Mobile Loyalty Programs) are a fantastic way for a retailer to deepen the relationship with their customers and build their brand image.

They also reduce SMS unsubscribe rates.

And of course, they’re a smart way to lock in long-term, repeat business which is ultimately how a retail business grows.

Summary

When used in an integrated way with all of your other marketing channels SMS is an incredibly effective way to market of a personal level to each of your customers which strengthens your brand while creating more sales stability since you know they your messages are being seen by proven buyers or at the very least have shown a strong interest in what you have.

If you’re looking for an effective way to grow your sales that doesn’t break the bank then one of the best strategies you can have is growing an SMS marketing list.

Why use SMS?

98% open rates

97% of recipients responding to an SMS within the first 3 minutes

19% of recipients will click-through on a link inside your SMS

Almost everyone owns a mobile device

SMS is also not an online marketing channel so is not affected by things like:

SEO updates

SPAM filters

Ad blockers

Crazy pay-per-click costs (it’s only a few cents per text)

This makes SMS one of the best marketing strategies available and the best part is that most retailers still don’t use this advertising channel making it a good time to build up your own list and generate more sales.

Here Are 5 Ways To Generate More Sales With SMS

Attract more subscribers with an irresistible offer

Getting one person on your list can equate to hundreds or thousands of dollars in sales of the lifetime of that customer so don’t be afraid to create an irresistible offer in exchange for their mobile details.

Offer types include:

Buy One, Get One Free

Free Delivery

Gift Vouchers

Standard Discounts (10% off etc.)

Demographic-Based Discounts (student, elderly etc.)

Free ‘A’ If You Buy Before ‘B’

Free Trials

Try Before You Buy

Free ‘A’ When You Buy ‘B’

Package Deals

Better Payment Terms

The more attractive your offer the faster and larger your list will grow.

The biggest mistake retailers make with SMS is that they treat it like building an email list and so they use weak offers to get people to subscribe.

Email is incredibly attractive to freebie seekers because it’s nothing to give you an email address but when someone gives you their mobile number you’ll find that they have a very high interest level in what you are selling and will be more responsive.

Leverage existing marketing channels

Chances are you’re already have a good looking website and are using Facebook, Instagram, email marketing etc. so the first thing you need to do is place your SMS promotion on these channels.

This will help you drive your existing traffic into your SMS list but it is recommended that you use a strong offer to get them to subscribe perhaps sending them offers that they will not see anywhere other than via SMS.

Common marketing channels include:

Website

Specific articles or blog content

Email list

POS

Paid ads

Social media

Sandwich board

Loyalty cards

Gift cards

Receipts

Traditional advertising (Radio, flyers, newspaper etc.)

Special events

New stock notifications

Your best customers will want to know of any new stock that has arrived and especially what new items are coming soon to the store.

This helps you to “presell” your products helping to boost sales as soon as the product drops.

This is also useful for letting your list know about stock that is running low to help move remaining stock.

SMS remarketing

If you own an online retail store then you know that abandoned carts are one of the greatest frustrations but it also presents one of the best opportunities to recover more sales.

By integrating SMS into your ecommerce platform you can trigger an email to be sent out as soon as someone leaves your website with items inside their cart.

Timing is especially critical with abandoned carts.

When a person is adding items to their cart they are imagining themselves getting the benefit from that product and so when they leave that though slowly leaves as well so by sending out an SMS shortly after they leave you can reignite that excitement and encourage them to complete their purchase.

With 98% of SMS messages are opened and are read within 3 minutes of the recipient receiving that message so you know for certain that they are going to see your remarketing SMS.

Send targeted offers

Not all of your customers are equal which is why segmentation is essential.

Just like with email one of the worst things you can do is send one general offer to the entire list because it reduces open rates and increases unsubscribes.

And, just like with email the best way to increase conversions is to ensure that you’re sending the right offer to the right person i.e. highly relevant offers.

Here’s a better idea. If you have permission to send emails to your customers you can do this:

Promote your SMS list on future company newsletters – create a static ad or promote it at the bottom of each newsletter to keep driving new leads.

Send them a personal email asking if they’d like to subscribe to your SMS list.

In either situation, don’t ask them to join but rather promote the benefits of being on your new SMS programme/VIP list/exclusive partners list etc.

Will you send them offers that only SMS list subscribers will see?

Will they get insider information that is not publicly available?

Will they preferential treatment in some way?

The goal is to position the SMS list as something that has high value.

Don’t Send Out SMS Too Frequently

One mistake I see with SMS is treating it like it’s similar to email or social media.

It’s not.

SMS is very unique because you’re marketing is being sent to the SMS inbox which is a place that only friends, family and maybe some work colleagues are allowed access to.

Because of this, the rules change a little.

The SMS inbox is more “exclusive” think of it has an insiders club.

The last thing you want to do consistently pepper that person with promotion after promotion.

From our own client research once per week seems to be the maximum number of times to reach someone and even then you want to make sure you have a good reason.

If you want to send campaigns more regularly here are two ideas:

Let them know how often you will message them on your offer (before they opt-in) or send them a follow-up confirmation SMS that lets them know how many SMS’s they can expect from you and that they can unsubscribe any time

Use a 2-Step Approach – get them on to your SMS list first and send then send them a text saying that you have a special SMS group where you send frequent special offers that come in 3-4 times per week and if they’re interested they can opt-in to that group by texting VIPlist to XXXXXXX this will allow you to grow a list of people who don’t mind regular contact.

Don’t Send Irrelevant Offers

Each SMS you send has the ability to make a lot of money but if not executed correctly can create “list erosion”.

Mobile users have an incredibly low tolerance for SPAM.

SPAM will destroy your list quickly and get angry calls back to the office for your team.

Here’s the best way to avoid this:

Segment your list.

You do this by creating specific contact groups that are linked to specific keywords.

For example, when a person text message’s “keyword A” to your SMS opt-in they are added to “contact group A”.

When you have an offer that is perfect for “Contact Group A” you’re only sending it to that specific group.

This is great for creating highly targeted offers and is also easier to manage your groups.

Don’t Talk To Them As A Group

SMS is a one-to-one communication channel.

Reduce the number of SMS messages that read like the following:

Big special on for our customers 50% off! Tonight only.

Why? Because this doesn’t feel personalised to the person you are trying to engage with.

Think about a text that you’d send to a friend if you’d just become aware of an offer that they’d be interested in.

How would you word it?

Think of yourself as someone who has just stumbled across something amazing and you are keen to let that subscriber in on it.

I’ll let you know why this is very important in a few moments.

You want your text message to read like it was meant for them.

Try something like this instead:

Hey Jill, I know you love Italian shoes so we’ve got a 50% off sale on our Italian shoe range but it ends tonight. Thought you’d be interested. Jack.

It’s a much more human to human interaction.

If they perceive you to be a real person they are more likely to open to text messages and stay on your list since it’s harder to unsubscribe from a person you know, like and trust.

Also, keep it casual.

By casual I don’t mean using the letter “u” instead of “you”.

Use the language and style that would feel natural to the recipient.

This is of course dictated by the buyer persona you’re messaging, right?

Obviously, you’ll talk to school principals different than you would pizza customers but there’s no need to be overly formal.

Don’t Send SMS Users To Pages That Aren’t Mobile Friendly

You have a special offer.

You’ve added to your website that was built in the early 2000’s before online mobile browsing was a thing.

Chances are that when people click through from your SMS message to your website that it’s going to give them a frustrating experience.

They going to have to zoom in and scroll left to right to read everything.

This is not only important for improving your SMS results but as an overall strategy.

Not only that but Google has now shown preferential treatment to mobile users and my guess is that they will start penalising websites that aren’t mobile friendly.

Use Scarcity And Urgency With Every Offer

Scarcity and urgency have always been helpful in terms of driving action and is one of the few strategies that will always work.

Imagine this for a moment:

Think of a product that you would love to have that is in your price range.

Do you feel a sense of pressure to buy it right now?

Now imagine this scenario:

Think of that same product you want but…

That company is running a good-bye promotion where that product is only available until 5pm or until the next 20 units are sold…after the price will go up by 20%.

On top of that, there are people lining up outside that store eager to get in.

Did you feel a hint of anxiety?

Fear of loss is a strong motivator.

Every special offer that you send should have an urgency and/or scarcity to drive more sales.

Use SMS To Improve Other Channels

One of the amazing benefits of SMS is that when you send a message…it will get read.

One of the downsides to email is that when you send an important email…it might get read.

If you’re sending out an important email you can improve open rates by sending out an SMS to those people who failed to open their email.

When someone is shopping online and they get halfway through the order process and then bail you can send them an SMS to recover some of those abandoned carts.

If you have a webinar or live event coming up sending an SMS is a smart way to drive more people to that event.

SMS is a great tool to deploy when you absolutely need to get as many eyeballs on your other various marketing efforts.

Turn Your List Into An Insiders Club

Once you’ve spent time and money getting people on to your SMS list the last thing you want to do is make it easy for people to unsubscribe.

The best way to reduce unsubscribes is to make the people on your list feel like they’re part of something special.

If they feel like if they unsubscribe that they could lose something valuable then you’re likely to have high retention rates.

Here are a handful of ways to turn your “list” into a VIP club:

Make offers to your list that cannot be seen anywhere else.

Make your list invite only.

Have people pay an annual fee to be on your list.

Giveaway stuff for free.

Make it a hassle to get on to your list (application sign up, jump through hoops etc.)

Keep Them Separated

The worst thing you can do in SMS marketing is to lump everyone together into the same group.

Each customer buys your product or service for different reasons so you want to group those people who share the same or similar reasons together into contact group segments.

Segmenting your list into groups of people who share similar needs and interests is great for improving sales because it helps you create offers that are related to the previous offer they purchased or opted-in for.

The Benefits Of Segmentation:

Reduce unsubscribes due to making highly relevant and therefore valuable offers and information.

It’s easier to come up with promotions when you know exactly who you’re sending the offer to.

Conversions, bookings, leads, and sales will go up naturally because the text messages will be highly specific to their needs.

If you have 5 group segments then you can send out an SMS campaign every dayto drive sales. If you only have one big group you can only text once per week maximum.

Build Your SMS Golden Goose

Would you like it if you have at least a dozen SMS promotions that you knew every time you ran them approximately how much money you would bring in like clockwork?

The most successful animal species are successful because they have gone through multiple iterations (versions) before landing on the model that allows them to thrive on this planet.

Use the same approach when it comes to offers.

If a business is guessing which offers to use week after week, month after month without continuing to improve them then it’s just gambling.

The goal is to create an offer and then through slight iterations, you are able to end up on what is called a Golden Goose Promotion.

This is a promotion that is successful every time it is launched.

Here’s how to create your Golden Goose Promotion:

Select the SMS segment you want to promote to

Craft two offers and give them slightly different codes so you can track them

Send offer #1 to 50% of the list and send offer #2 out to the other 50%

By asking you a few questions I can tell you whether your campaign has the makings of a champion campaign or if it’s going to flop without even looking at your campaign.

In this post, I’m going to share 6 SMS marketing ideas that focus on what needs to happen before you launch your SMS campaign because if you get things right at the beginning your rewards will be greater as your list grows.

TIP 1: Target Key Influencers With Targeted SMS Offers

Key influencers are people who have a good reputation with their network and so have the ability to recommend you if they believe you are able to offer high enough value.

By creating a targeted SMS offer for this person you can get your foot in the door and generate referrals.

Let’s use a local dentist who is trying to drive more family units into their practice instead of just single patients.

The opt-in offer could be:

For new mothers who want to make sure their newborn babies have healthy teeth. There are 3 critical stages of teeth development before your baby reaches 12 months that determine 80% of overall health when they become adults. Text “FreeCheckup” to XXXXXXXX and receive a free baby teeth health check-up.

For every SMS lead that comes in the admin team can call or text to book the appointment.

The goal here is to:

Call out the decision maker: the mother.

Identify a potential problem and offer a low barrier solution to solving that problem.

By exposing her to the clinic, chances are she is going to recommend the dentist to her family as well giving our dentist the opportunity to bring on the entire family.

TIP 2: Use Granular Targeting

The “universal remote control” strategy in marketing is…long gone.

That is making one big fat offer that attempts to target everyone at once.

These offers just don’t work as well as highly targeted offers.

People have very specific needs and the more you can align your offer to that need the better results you will get.

Imagine an asthmatic who has a head-splitting headache they walk into the pharmacy to get some headache pills to solve that problem.

They’re presented with 3 options:

Painkiller

Headache pills

Headache pills for people with asthma

Which one is she likely to go for?

Even though the ingredients are exactly the same they’ll opt for the ‘headache pills for people with asthma’ and here’s why:

If they purchase either the general painkillers or the headache pills, at best, they may not be as effective, at worst they could potentially cause serious health issues or even death.

By drilling down on your offer and matching a specific problem to a specific person you make your competitors’ products seem irrelevant, inferior and in some instances potentially dangerous.

TIP 3: Make Your Offer Easy Like Sunday Morning

What I see a lot of businesses doing is promoting their flagship products that require a lot of thinking on the part of the buyer.

If you have ever worked in retail you know that when a buyer as to “think about it” they’re not coming back to your store.

The goal with this strategy is to make them an offer that they’re already interested in, yet doesn’t involve a lot of commitment on their side.

Think about this for a moment…

When you think about your target customer, what are they ultimately trying to achieve as it relates to your product?

What’s the big goal that they’re marching towards?

Now, what’s the first and easiest step they need to take?

If the person is trying to lose weight from 100kgs down to 75kgs what is the first step that they are already looking for?

Maybe it’s a free fat loss consultation specifically designed for new mothers who want to lose the baby weight including and written fitness program based on their fat percentage, lifestyle and dietary habits.

Whatever that first step is to make that available for a very good price or if it makes sense give it away.

The goal of the offer isn’t to make money but to bring people into your solution in a logical way.

TIP 4: Build A Buyer Persona

This is considered SMS best practice.

Before you craft any offer you need to have a good understanding of who it is that you’re looking to target.

We use what is called a buyer persona.

A buyer persona is a fictional character that carries the same needs, goals, frustrations, desires etc. of a specific group of people who buy from you.

Here’s what you want to know

Demographics:

Gender

Age

Occupation

Income

Location (especially important if you’re a local business)

Motivators:

What are their frustrations? What current problems are they experiencing?

What are their fears?

What are their wants and desires?

What goal are they trying to accomplish?

Habits:

Where do they hang out online?

Who are they influenced by?

Beliefs:

What are their beliefs about their current problem?

What do they believe they need to solve that problem?

The more detail you can go into on each of these points the better.

Just knowing the answers to these questions will help you a great deal when running your marketing campaigns.

TIP 5: Always…Always…Segment

Relevancy is ultra-important, especially with SMS subscribers.

SMS subscribers have an incredibly low tolerance for irrelevant information and offers.

Before you put together your SMS campaign remember this:

Your average subscriber is looking for a reason to unsubscribe.

The moment you send them untargeted, valueless information or promotion, they’re jumpin’ ship!

The secret to avoiding this is to stay relevant and this is done through segmentation.

You can segment people based on whatever criteria you want:

Buyer Persona

Product based

Location-based

Income-based

Age or gender etc.

Whatever is meaningful to you in terms of improving your conversion rates.

Is SMS marketing better for B2B or B2C?

SMS can be used for both, however, the approach needs to be adjusted. Typically, with B2C (selling inexpensive items) you can use SMS by itself to drive conversions e.g. “50% off sale today!” Typically, In B2B, with longer sales cycles and more complex solutions SMS is used as part of a multi-channel approach, for example, you would start with SMS e.g. “Download our lead generation method for fintech’s” but will have to hand it off to a human to progress the sale.

How to use SMS for B2B

Generally speaking, when using SMS in business you will be using it at the earlier stages of the buying process (top funnel).

This will mean using some form of information to get them onto your SMS list.

But chances are that you want to continue to message them like you would with B2C SMS campaigns instead you would hand that lead off to a salesperson to follow up.

Before creating a B2B text messaging campaign there is some groundwork that needs to be covered.

The first step is to figure out how you’re going to get them on the SMS list.

In the majority of cases you will be looking to build a list in exchange for information whether that is:

Guide or whitepaper

A strategy call

Some kind of Analysis

Once you know the way in which you are going to get them onto a list you need to ask yourself a few questions:

WHO you are targeting specifically.

You need to understand that person’s single biggest pain point or challenge.

How will you communicate using SMS?

Who are you targeting?

When running B2B SMS campaigns it is important to target a specific individual, are you targeting the CMO, CCO, project manager, sales manager or the business owner etc.?

What is the single biggest pain point or challenge for that person?

Business people are usually quite busy so to cut through the noise you need to speak directly to their existing pain point.

How will you communicate using SMS?

Are you going to send them a specific drip-fed sequence of information or are you going to do send one SMS and then hand it over to your salesperson to call and set up an appointment?

Promote

Once you’ve got the above complete it’s now time to get as many eyeballs on this offer as you can.

You need to know where your target prospect spends most of their time.

Channels you may use to promote the campaign:

LinkedIn – get all of your employees to post the campaign on their feed.

Company Newsletter – if you have prospects that are in your newsletter then post in on there.

Social media channels – schedule the promotion to run on your social media channels. Pin it to the top of your feed.

Your website – most of your traffic won’t convert but will take a small step towards solving their problem

PPC – if you’re currently using paid ads then set aside a budget to promote the campaign.

Whatever marketing channels you are currently using your SMS promotion should have some kind of presence.

Can you use SMS to sell the product like you can with B2C?

Generally speaking, no.

But there are 2 scenarios where it may make sense.

Scenario #1

If you’re selling recurring services that require confirmation from a client (monthly, quarterly, annually) then you may be able to send them a quick SMS with details and they can reply back with the SMS confirmation to continue.

This is useful if you have a large portfolio of clients and SMS can help you cut your workload down.

Even then this would be for smaller dollar value clients, bigger clients should always be called.

Scenario #2

If the prospect has read the information, sat down with your salesperson, gone through every meaningful feature and benefit and come to the conclusion that the product fit is right but maybe they want a 10% discount to proceed and you have good rapport it could work.

As long as the price point is less than $10,000 I don’t really see why not.

Sending them a quick SMS asking if they’re still interested is fine.

I’ve closed $2,500 packages with an SMS on a few occasions but again everything had been lined up correctly before I was able to do that.

How to use SMS for B2C

B2C SMS marketing is typically used at the end of the buying process.

If the product is relatively cheap under $100 then SMS offers work fantastically well.

If you’re selling solutions that run into the $1,000’s of dollars then it may require an extended SMS campaign or involves a sales consultant.

B2C SMS process

At its most basic level all you need to do is build a list and send ongoing SMS messages.

Create an offer

Create different offers that are attractive to specific buyers in your market.

Segment your lists

Sending out offers and information to everyone on your list is not a good idea and is referred to as spam.

The goal with SMS is to separate buyers into different groups so that we’re only sending specific offers to specific buyers.

SMS segmenting helps you do this which helps reduce unsubscribes and increase sales.

Builds a list

To build a list we need to get eyeballs on to our promotion.

Just like in the B2B example get your promotion onto every channel you can to give it maximum exposure.

SMS campaign

Once your list starts to build, send our occasional offers and information to the various list segments.

Summary: B2B vs B2C SMS Marketing

There are more commonalities than differences between the business and consumer markets with the main differences being:

Consumers are generally fine with ongoing text messaging as long as it’s relevant to their needs.

Businesses will not want to hear from you consistently on SMS.

Consumers can be converted via SMS depending on the price point, for example, you can’t sell a home via SMS.

While you can begin a relationship with a business professional using SMS (i.e. downloading information) you will need to hand this off to a human to complete the sale.

Generally speaking, regardless of whether you’re in the B2C or B2B market, the more pressing factors are:

Is what you are selling expensive? SMS is more suitable for lower commitment transactions, selling expensive items will require the human component.

Is what you are selling complex in nature? Since SMS has limited characters a complex solution will require more education and a dynamic conversation i.e. get a human involved.

As I said at the beginning of this article SMS can be used for both markets but the answers to these questions will determine how it is used.

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